AUSTIN — Texas has bought more time to avoid obeying a federal judge's foster care ruling.

But a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, though it didn't please plaintiffs' lawyers, didn't gravely harm their prospects as a high-stakes legal battle now awaits random selection of another panel. The final showdown could be before three appeals court judges in New Orleans next month.

In three orders issued over two days that puzzled lawyers on both sides, Judges James L. Dennis and Stephen A. Higginson, both of Louisiana, and Leslie H. Southwick of Mississippi left intact a stay of U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack's remedial orders in a long-running class-action lawsuit.

"We indicate no view on the ultimate merits, but wish only to maintain the status quo until the case is argued on April 30, 2018, and the panel is able to rule on the underlying appeal," they wrote, speaking of a separate panel that will be named to hear Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's appeal.

For Paxton and the state Department of Family and Protective Services, which Jack has said treats vulnerable children horribly, the panel's action is a partial victory.

The department, which runs foster care, won't be required to obey her order until April 30 at the earliest — and perhaps not before summer, if at all.

But a complete cold shoulder from the "stay panel" would have in effect signaled that the appellate judges had at least peeked at Jack's ruling — and weren't favorably impressed.

Instead, the three judges stressed they weren't wading into that at all. In a third order they issued Wednesday afternoon, they asked for more information on what progress the state has made in various areas. They didn't relinquish their ability to lift or change the stay.

The case has dragged on for seven years as Gov. Greg Abbott, who preceded Paxton as attorney general, challenged how plaintiffs' lawyers certified classes of children.

In December 2016, Jack found the state liable for constitutional violations. But then she took 13 months to craft her proposed remedies.

"Believe me, we're not happy about what happened," said Lonny Hoffman, a civil procedure expert at University of Houston Law School who is an adviser to the plaintiffs.

"Still, they decided the better part of discretion was not to decide," he said.

That was a relief to New York-based Children's Rights and A Better Childhood, groups that advocate for foster children and that brought the suit in 2011 with help from volunteer lawyers from Dallas-based Haynes and Boone and Houston's Yetter Coleman.

The Houston firm's lead partner, Paul Yetter, has served pro bono as the children's lead trial attorney in the case. On Wednesday, Yetter did not respond directly when asked if he was disappointed by the three-judge panel's maintenance of the stay.

"This is an administrative order, not a ruling on the merits," he said in a written statement. "The Texas system and thousands of children remain in desperate need of the reforms ordered by the trial court."

Paxton spokeswoman Kayleigh Lovorn disagreed. "The stay is currently in effect pending appeal, and there is no present need for district court intervention," she said in a written statement.

Paxton and Abbott have insisted the state is improving foster care and Child Protective Services already. They have assailed Jack for stepping on the state's authority and prerogatives in child welfare.

Paxton has leaned heavily on a 2014 ruling in which the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston denied a statewide remedial order in a Massachusetts case.

Even though Massachusetts' foster care system "was recognized to be in urgent need of major reform," the plaintiffs there failed to prove there was almost universal, shocking mistreatment of children, Paxton wrote in the state's appeal earlier this month.

That's the standard that must be met before a federal judge can effectively take over a state-run system, Paxton said.

Jack, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, has said that the department must rapidly improve placements, treatment and support for about 10,700 kids who are in the state's "permanent managing conservatorship."

Her final order would limit caseload sizes for two types of state employees who check on foster kids.

It also would force the state to create a much better-distributed and managed array of foster homes and treatment center beds. The order, which Jack crafted with the help of two special masters who spent months studying the Texas system, also would require better tracking of sexually aggressive children in the system. And it would strongly discourage group residential settings.